Graig,
As usual, your painting rocks. You could paint a pile of poo and it would probably look good.
My feeling on this painting is that I prefer your other work more.
For me the attention to detail is the thing that really breathes life into your work. Joe Jackson's hands and glove, Matty's face and uniform, Tyree and Harrison's image, Gehrig's face, Babe's nose and your manipulation of shadows in paintings too numerous to mention are the things that make your work speak to me and elicit that emotional response and connection. (Those of you who have followed this thread will understand which paintings I am referring to)
I can see what Dean means about the eyes, but I don't prefer that as the main effect. There is a certain fluidity of movement to your paintings that I think comes from the detail. We've discussed this before, so you know what I mean. I just don't get that from this one and it's one of the effects that I most admire in your work.
Now, I freely admit, that there are others out there who will appreciate this style. After all art appreciation is very subjective. Perhaps the non baseball people would like these more as Neiman has this looser style to his work and is arguably the most commercially successful sport artist ever. What do I know, I always thought his stuff was ugly. I guess different strokes for different folks.
All that being said, If you really don't know what to do with it, you can send it to me for safe keeping on a wall in my home.
(Note to self: Damn, I gotta start saving money for my next painting)
Best,
Mark
EDIT: Graig, I have a better idea. Why don't you paint the same image in your regular style and send them both to me so I can inspect and compare them in person on my wall. That would be the fairest way to truly see which style I would like better.
